The 26th Emmy Awards, later known as the 26th Primetime Emmy Awards, were handed out on May 28, 1974. Johnny Carson hosted the ceremony. Winners are listed in bold and networks are in parentheses.
For this ceremony, individual awards dubbed "Super Emmys" were given out in addition to the traditional categories. The individual categories were dropped the following year and have yet to return since.
The Primetime Super Emmy Award was a set of 14 awards that were given in conjunction with the traditional Emmy Awards at the 1974 ceremony.
Winners of a traditional Emmy would then compete against their genre counterpart from the same category (comedy vs. drama for "Series", miniseries vs. telefilm for "Special"). This format would prove to be the Super Emmy's undoing. In order to vote on a Super Emmy winner, the traditional Emmy winners had to be announced well before the ceremony.
Several members of the Television Academy were against implementing the new awards. Super Emmy winners Alan Alda and Mary Tyler Moore were some of the loudest detractors. Both threatened to resign from the academy if they were installed. During their acceptance speeches, Moore said that comparing comedic and dramatic television was "apples to oranges". Alda went one step further in his speech "it's comparing apples to oranges to Volkswagens."[2]
The Super Emmy was never awarded again.
Acting
Actor of the Year – Series
Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H (CBS)
Telly Savalas as Theo Kojak in Kojak (CBS)
Actor of the Year – Special
Hal Holbrook as Capt. Lloyd Bucher in Pueblo (ABC)
William Holden as Bumper Morgan in The Blue Knight (NBC)
Actress of the Year – Series
Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Richards in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS)
Michael Learned as Olivia Walton in The Waltons (CBS)
Actress of the Year – Special
Cicely Tyson as Jane Pittman in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (CBS)
Mildred Natwick as Gwendolyn Snoop Nicholson in The Snoop Sisters (NBC)
Supporting Actor of the Year
Michael Moriarty as Jim O'Connor in The Glass Menagerie (ABC)
Rob Reiner as Michael Stivic in All in the Family (CBS)
Supporting Actress of the Year
Joanna Miles as Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie (ABC)
Cloris Leachman as Phyllis Lindstrom in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS)
Directing
Director of the Year – Series
Robert Butler for The Blue Knight, (Episode: "Part III"), (NBC)
Jackie Cooper for M*A*S*H, (Episode: "Carry on, Hawkeye"), (CBS)
Director of the Year – Special
Dwight Hemion for Barbra Streisand and Other Musical Instruments, (CBS)
John Korty for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, (CBS)
Writing
Writer of the Year – Series
Treva Silverman for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, (Episode: "The Lou And Edie Story"), (CBS)
Joanna Lee for The Waltons, (Episode: "The Thanksgiving Story"), (CBS)
Writer of the Year – Special
Fay Kanin for Tell Me Where it Hurts, (CBS)
Tracy Keenan Wynn for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, (CBS)
^O'Neil, Thomas. "1973-74. A Super S*M*A*S*H Night." The Emmys: The Ultimate, Unofficial Guide to the Battle of TV's Best Shows and Greatest Stars. New York: Perigee, 2000. 173-174.